The invention relates to a printing machine having a printing drum with which there is associated an intermittently indexable transporting element for the articles to be printed which are of non-circular cross-section, the supports of the transporting element having a rotatably supported arbor supporting the article internally thereof.
From the published German specification 2039880 such a printing machine is known which is adapted for the printing of non-circular hollow bodies. Since no further means, other than the internally arranged rotatably supported arbor, are provided for supporting the article to be printed, it is possible to set a particular initial position at the beginning of the printing operation only by the operator holding the article in a particular initial position firmly until the article is held between the arbor and the printing drum by these two last-mentioned parts. Automatic feeding of the article to be printed to the printing drum and automatic removal of the printed article upon completion of the printing operation are consequently not possible, so that the throughput capacity of the known machine is necessarily small.